Time capsule buried during groundbreaking ceremony at school
“Soon, the part of the school that is under construction will become a huge lunchroom, so the old lunchroom will be turned into more classrooms,” is written in a message by a fifth-grade student at Los Paseos Elementary School.
The messages were buried Friday afternoon in a time capsule scheduled to be opened in 50 years. Morgan Hill School District Board President George N. Panos and Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, San Jose Councilman Forrest Williams, hundreds of students from Los Paseos Elementary School and the Santa Teresa community kicked off the construction of the first youth center in the area.
“I promised the youth of this area a place of their own,” Williams said. “This will be a place where our future leaders can develop programs and services that fit their needs.”
The message is fitting. Two years ago, former Council District Two Youth Commissioner Rachel Stone envisioned a teen center for the Santa Teresa and Bernal communities. She identified a need for youth services and held focus groups with Bernal Intermediate and Martin Murphy Middle School students.
She then presented the results to the Youth Commission and Councilman Williams. The recommendation to develop a facility to meet the needs of youth was formally adopted by the Youth Commission and City Council.
When the Morgan Hill School District moved Encinal School students to the Los Paseos campus, the District needed a new multipurpose room at the Los Paseos School site. This presented a unique opportunity for both the School District and the city to meet the needs of both organizations and their constituencies.
The partnership between these two public entities expands beyond sharing financial resources to searching for and acquiring additional funds. The city and School District entered into a joint-use agreement that allowed them to apply successfully for a joint-use grant from the state’s Office of Public School Construction.
The facility embodies a new spirit of collaboration between public entities.
Multi-use facilities allow separate entities to share resources for the benefit of both the school and community. One facility for several users saves organizations millions of dollars in construction, operations and maintenance. It also allows for maximum use of the building.
During the day, Los Paseos School will use the multipurpose building for a variety of school activities including enrichment and physical education classes, assemblies, fine art center, library and media center, and as a lunchroom. The city will also have dedicated space for community use that can be accessed separately from the school’s areas during the day.
Afternoons and weekends the San José Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services will provide a variety of programming for the community, filling a gap in recreation and educational opportunities for youth and families in the Santa Teresa area.
The center will be one of only two public K-12 educational projects in California registered for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. It has been designed to be energy and water efficient using mechanical systems, building materials and finishes that will provide a healthy environment for all. The project will result in significant operating savings to the School District.
Energy-saving strategies include high-efficiency fluorescent lighting with dimmable ballasts, photocells, day lighting (clerestories and a skylight), motion sensors, programmable thermostats, additional insulation, natural ventilation and a “cool roof”. The placement on a school campus also provides for students’ learning opportunities by providing a “real world classroom” on issues of sustainability and natural resources.
The 14,000-square-foot multipurpose building is estimated to open in summer of 2005. The center will feature a multi-purpose room, serving kitchen, media center, library, theater, and community meeting room.
The center is funded with $1 million of the city’s Open Space/Park and Recreation Fund, approximately $3 million from the Morgan Hill School District, and more than $750,000 from the state’s Office of Public School Construction.
Los Paseos and Martin Murphy are within the Morgan Hill School District boundaries, which extend from San Martin to south San Jose.
